Reference no: EM133107674 , Length: word count:3000

ACCA40631 Financial Statement Analysis - Nottingham Trent University

Assessment Brief

Company - GlaxoSmithKline

Background:

You have recently joined a successful financial advisory firm as a financial analyst. The financial advisory firm offers a range of services to its clients, including research and recommendations to private and institutional investors and lenders on the investment and credit potential of large UK listed firms.

Requirement:

You have been approached by your manager who oversees research on a number of firms, including your allocated case study company. They would like you to prepare a report on the investment potential of the firm. You are required to conduct an in-depth analysis of the company's financial performance and position, using information from their annual report and other relevant sources of information. This analysis should conclude with a recommendation based on one of the following scenarios (Your allocated company and scenario will be communicated separately):

a) Should a 5-year loan application for the company be granted by its banks?1 or
b) Should an equity investor purchase the company's shares?

Suggested Structure (and word count per section):

As you are preparing a business report you are expected to use suitable business language and format. Our recommendation is that your report takes the following format:

Executive Summary: This should provide a succinct summary of the report by identifying its purpose, the tools of analysis and key findings and recommendation.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction (300 words): This should provide an introduction to the report by presenting a brief insight into the company e.g. its sector, key competitors, main segments, relevant recent financial news, recent share price performance and any other background information deemed useful to provide a context for your subsequent analysis. The introduction should also provide insight into how the company will be analysed and a clear signposting to the content of the report.

2. Financial Analysis (1300 words): This represent the main body of the report and should include detailed financial analysis for recent two years and a 5-year trend analysis for key ratios. This should be accompanied by narrative interpretation which includes reference to both financial and non-financial information sourced from the annual report and other relevant source of information. This should also include relevant comparative analysis using suitable competitor or industry data as benchmarks.

3. Quality Assessment (400words): This section should contain a critical evaluation of the company's earning and financial reporting quality for the past two years.

4. Conclusion and Recommendation (500 words): This section should conclude and provide a clear recommendation of investment in the company by its bankers in the form of a loan or potential equity investors (based on the scenario selected) with supporting justification, based on earlier analysis.

5. Reflection on report strength and weakness (500 words): This represents an addendum to the report which captures your own reflection on your analysis. It should provide a short reflective commentary on the limitations of your analysis and what you did or could have done to overcome or address those limitations.

References: List alphabetically using Harvard style

Appendices: You may include relevant supporting information, e.g. list of ratios, extract from annual report or other relevant document to support information in the main report etc.

Attachment:- Financial Statement Analysis.rar